


forty winks

by Darkfromday



Series: Arc-V Rare Pair Week 2017 [4]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Arc V Rare Pair Week, F/M, M/M, Multi, lateposting 2017, prompt fills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 12:53:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11990196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkfromday/pseuds/Darkfromday
Summary: Prompt fills for Arc-V Rare Pair Week, Day 4: Sleep.





	1. eyelash count (kachidoki/yuuya)

_Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty_ –-

SLAM.

“ _Yuuya!_ When are we gonna have our du–-”

As Shuin’in Sora came hurtling into the living room shouting at max volume, he got an unpleasant surprise: Kachidoki Isao was glaring at him from the couch, where he’d been bent over Yuuya  _as though he were about to kiss him, holy shit_ –-

“-– _ack_! What’re you doing? This living room is public space, you know!”

“You are disturbing Yuuya’s sleep,” Kachidoki said smoothly, slowly and without any warmth. “Go play somewhere else. I’ll send him to see you when he wakes up. Or not.”

Sora pouted, but he was a little unsettled by the older duelist, even after having known him for a few years. He left with much less fanfare.

Alone again at last with his longtime boyfriend, Kachidoki let out a groan and sported a pout of his own.

_Damn it! Forgot which eyelash cluster I stopped at. Now I’ve got to start all over._

Ever since Yuuya started his mid-math-homework-nap a few hours ago, Kachidoki had been taking advantage of the peace and quiet to count his boyfriend’s eyelashes. Once when they were out for their customary rainbow sherbet ice cream, Yuuya had claimed that he had a whopping  _232_  upper eyelashes on each eye. When Kachidoki snorted and asked him to prove it, he’d just laughed and insisted that  _he_  couldn’t count them all efficiently; better if his partner did it while he was asleep.

Perhaps he expected the suggestion to startle him, but Kachidoki was undaunted. Watching his boyfriend sleep was no challenge; closely studying him was no hardship. As he prepared to start over, he carefully mussed Yuuya’s red and green hairs together before pushing them off his forehead and out of his way for the recount.

_forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty…_

_…eighty-five, eighty-six, eighty-seven, eighty-eight…_

_…ninety-nine… one-hundred… one-hundred-one…_.

* * *

 

The next thing he knew, Yuuya was prodding him awake.

Wait.

_Awake?!_

_Shit_.

“Isao, wake up. I’ve gotta know!”

“Knowha’?” he grumbled, trying to remember what he’d fallen asleep in the middle of. It seemed so important at the time.

“ _Isao_ , how many eyelashes do I have? You were supposed to be counting!”

 _Oh!_  He’d drifted off counting those things. The last number that he  _remembered_  saying was 121, but who knew?

“Lost track. Doesn’t matter.”

“ _Doesn’t matter_?” Yuuya whined. “Come on, I even went back to sleep after Sora busted in here, and that was hard to pull off!”

Kachidoki just responded by pulling the overexcited entertainer into a close cuddle, and resting their heads together. His voice was still groggy and rough, but firm as ever. “Don’t care, Yuuya. I’m tired. Count later; sleep  _now_.”

“But–-! Oh okay  _fine_ , I’ll just count yours for you later instead. Night.”

“Zzzz.”

* * *

“I’m home!”

Sakaki Yoko’s shout got no answer–-not even from Yuzu or Sora, the two munchkins most likely to be galloping around like they lived here too. She was puzzled at first, until she made it to the living room to see why.

Yuuya was fast asleep on the couch, curled around his cute-but-still-heavily-mom-screened boyfriend Kachidoki Isao.

It looked like they had been out for hours–- _yep, sure enough_ , there was Yuuya’s unfinished math homework on the floor.

Yoko snapped a quick pic of them, chuckling, then moved to make dinner and prepare for the fallout tomorrow after school. Kachidoki might look adorable with her son under soft light, but even  _he_  couldn’t convince Yuuya to turn his stuff in on time.


	2. break time (yuuya/reiji/yuzu)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if I don't post anything else about orchestrashipping roommates in my life, assume I'm dead inside

_(1) missed message from tomato_clown:_ hey no offense or anything babe but where the hell are u

 

Reiji sees this text the minute his quarterly profits meeting ends. The buzz has worried him for a good while, and now that he actually  _sees_ the text behind it he is… no less confused.

Has something happened and Yuuya is in the middle of it?

Or has he forgotten to do something important, meaning Yuuya actually  _is_  upset with him?

Just as he’s typing out his response, another message buzzes in, this time from  _mellowdiva_ :  **Reiji, if you got any dumbass panicky-sounding messages from Yuuya, ignore them. Told him you were in a long meeting today but he heard none of it.**

Relaxing some, he chuckles, leaving the office and lingering in the elevator without pressing anything. He mentally flips a coin, then texts his girlfriend back before their boyfriend.

' _Thank you Yuzu, your text came just in time. Does Yuuya need anything?_ ’

_mellowdiva:_ **Just you, like I do. Hurry home.**

Reiji smirks, and hits “1F”. As he descends, he shrugs off his suit coat, revealing the standard gray hoodie he still wears underneath, and folds the coat over the arm not holding his phone.

He texts Yuuya next: ' _Heading home now. Don’t worry._ ’

The Entertainment duelist doesn’t respond until he’s made it to his car and driver and settled in for the ride to his apartment. Since Reiji’s officially off and away from work, Yuuya’s bouncy message tone chirps from his pocket.

 _tomato_clown_ : sorry, just worried me when u were late. u work too hard.

Reiji knows he does. Consistent overtime, late night call-ins, weekend Skype meetings and reams on reams of paperwork… Akaba Leo’s return was meant to alleviate his burdens, but so far it had done no such thing.

Still, he tries to be soothing in the way he’s been trained to be by all his time dating a dork and a diva. That means sending memes that are gradually funnier the whole way across town.

* * *

Yuuya takes three showers, but he still feels like he’s drenched with sweat instead of freshwater.

“Stop wasting our water,” Yuzu scolds. “If you’ve had a bad day, stop anxious-texting your entire contacts list and  _talk_  about it.”

“It’s not that–-” He flops down on the couch, talking to the ceiling instead of her. Today he won both challenge duels and preserved his place in the Pro League, bringing himself one step closer to eventually matching Reiji’s record. It’s not that he’d had a bad day  _today_  so much as he had one  _weeks ago_  that won’t let him go.

Yuzu finishes drying the plates and puts popcorn in the microwave. Only then does she make it into the living room to join him on the sectional, sitting close enough to stroke his shoulder and change TV channels simultaneously. Her touch is one of two that helps him relax these days, and this time is no different.

“Dad and I… still haven’t talked, since I moved in here. Since our fight.”

Her pink eyebrows lift at the words, then beetle.

“Uncle Yuushou’s  _still_ upset with you for moving out?”

The fact that he’d been upset at  _all_  still grinds Yuuya’s gears. His father left him and his mother for almost  _four years_  without any kind of warning beforehand, though he’d been given the chance to so warn. When he finally returned, smug as anyone who  ~~ _hadn’t_  actually~~ defeated his ideological enemy could be, he seemed to think that no apology was needed for upending the lives of his wife and son in the first place.

After all, Yuuya had _kept smilin_ _g_ and  _learned to be courageous_ , right?

And Yoko  _was always independent enough to manage,_ right?

It was the dumbest conclusion ever, because it all was so much more complicated than that. In those first few months of his father’s return, Yuuya saw his mother jump at shadows, and keep her dissatisfaction with the lack of air-clearing to herself. But  _he_  couldn’t so easily forget the years of being bullied and tormented, ridiculed by people of all ages.

Yuuya had started staying over at Yuzu’s more, and then at Reiji’s as the older boy opened up and welcomed him. Inevitably Yuzu started wondering where the hell he went and tailed him to LDS. By the time Yuushou and Shuzou thought to tail  _her_ , the three of them had grown very, very comfortable with one another.

This had sparked the real flame of Yuuya’s rebellion. Living with his childhood friend and a rich billionaire was the perfect, if most bizarre, solution to the alienation he felt in his own home. Even Yoko’s crying and Yuushou’s piercing accusations hadn’t stopped Yuuya from packing and fleeing.

Except  _now_  he can’t stop thinking about how he’d heard nothing from either of his parents since.

Yuzu is quiet as he finishes updating her on all the nothing he’s heard since he moved out. She’s moved from playing with the remote to playing with his fingers.

“You know I’d try and help, Yuuya, but… well, since I left home too I don’t know if Uncle Yuushou would listen to me.”

“I just want him to  _understand_ ,” Yuuya says. “I can’t stay there and pretend everything’s like it was. I won’t.”

“I know.”

“But mostly I want to stop thinking about it. Like, we’re supposed to be spoiling Reiji today and all I can think about is fighting with my parents…”

He trails off, pensive. The popcorn starts popping urgently and Yuzu gets up to retrieve it.

Eventually she picks the conversation back up. “The day’s not over yet. We still have time to have fun before the weekend. So relax, okay? Reiji and I are with you and we’re not going anywhere.”

Then she brings the popcorn over with herself, cuddling with him while still leaving room for one more. Yuuya basks in her close proximity and uses it to gradually adjust his mood, until he receives a new message from  _el_rei_  that makes him snort with laughter.

“What is it?”

“Our boyfriend is shitposting again.”

“ _Ugh_ ,” Yuzu groans. “Yuuya, I’ve told you before to tell him to delete his account and stop texting us memes. Those things can’t be called shitposts when they’re  _actually_  shitty.”

“Hey, I like his jokes!”

“You like  _everything he’s ever done_ –-”

“Nuh-uh, I didn’t like him all that much when he was grumpy and wanted to fight and boss everyone around all the time.”

“When he had the stick up his ass, you mean? You  _especially_  liked him then.”

“No I–-!”

Yuuya pauses.

Actually thinks back.

Blushes.

“…okay,  _maybe_  I did…”

* * *

Yuzu always knows when Reiji has made it home, whether she’s heard the purr of his driver’s car or recognized his distinctive footsteps on the stairs to their landing. But she also knows that their CEO likes to feel in control of his own actions and how others perceive them, so she always allows him to ‘surprise’ them and knock.

She’s still standing just inside when he knocks today, so she’s fast enough to open the door and pull him in before he can even pull his knuckles back from the wood.

“Welcome to your night off.”

Reiji smiles. His suit coat’s already off, but he takes the time to hang it up by the door before taking one of her hands in his, holding it gently.

“How was your audition, Yuzu?”

 _Oh, that_.

She shrugs, having mostly put it out of her mind the minute she got here. “I did well, but Mikiyo was there auditioning as well, so…”

“So you’ll get it,” he replies encouragingly. Then he smirks. “I could call in a favor.”

“You’ll do  _no such thing_.”

Yuuya calls from the living room just then: “Yuzu! Did Reiji make it in?”

Reiji takes the liberty of responding himself, moving into the main part of their tiny space to greet their third. Yuzu, still holding his hand, feels a gentle tug and then follows him. Only when they arrive does she let go so they can wind around Yuuya, and so she can tease him.

“Yep. I was keeping him all to myself.”

“You can’t nap in the hallway, there’s no room–-”

Reiji kisses Yuuya, cutting his protests short. Yuzu nods approvingly, because  _yeah, I should’ve thought of that. Kissing is the best way to shut him up_.

“You should sleep,” their rich rent-payer says when he’s done making Yuuya quit frowning and ruminating. “All your texts today made you sound drunk.”

Yuzu snorts as Yuuya yelps indignantly and her two boys go for each other’s throats harder than they have since last week’s lie-in. It’s playful though, so it’s all good.

About a month ago she and Yuuya started dragging Reiji out of his leech-like CEO life and making him come home for naps and bad movies once a week, close to the weekend. Their most-stressed-by-far partner is still a bit stiff, but Yuzu thinks he’s come a long way.

Like now–-he’s not afraid to touch them, kiss them or get close to them. As they turn on  _Jupiter Ascending_ , he even rests his head near their shoulders and then their laps, not bothering yet to bring the details of  _his_  long day into their space. There will be time enough for that later.

This life was not what Yuzu anticipated the day she watched Strong Ishijima try and bully her best friend to draw out his father, but she has learned to be grateful for the hand of fate. Though the war took a lot out of her (out of all of them), and she has to rest a lot more now, she enjoys taking life a day at a time with her bickering boys.

Plus, Yuzu’s never slept so well in her whole life as she does with them now.


	3. trust fall (yuzu/dennis)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Assumptions for this AU: Maiami City is in Japan, which is in Standard. The dimensions stayed separate, but the Fusion kids travel around to the other ones (i.e.: Standard) a LOT and just say they're from other countries. 
> 
> Especially Dennis. Because of course.

“This is our  _transfer student_ , Dennis Mackfield!”

The little kids all clapped obliviously. The center of their attention heard how his co-host’s teeth gritted around his name and descriptor though, and tried his hardest not to openly cringe.

For her part, Hiiragi Yuzu wasn’t deterred at all by her training partner’s discomfort.

“Dennis has the best command of Fusion summoning that You Show can offer in America, which is why he’s been invited along to show you all the ropes! We’ll be meeting up with Shuin'in Sora, another expert user, later in our camping tour, and between the three of us you’ll learn to master the method in no time.”

She dismissed their students, who moved back to setting up their camping tents, chattering excitedly. Though she only let herself smile when they weren’t around to see, the truth was that she was excited too.

The kids were You Show’s newest recruits. Enrollment had skyrocketed since Sakaki Yuushou’s return, and these days there was far less turnover.  _That_ was all thanks to the fame Yuzu and Yuuya had brought back to their dimension–-they were two of the few to master Pendulum summoning, go to war and live to tell the tale, not to mention return with the ability to teach the skill to others in a non-threatening setting.

Many of the others who’d picked up the skill either went back to their homes and preferred summoning methods (like Sora, Shun and Serena), gave their Pendulum cards up for mass distribution (like Tsukikage and Reira), or had been persuaded or bullied into binding agreements not to advertise Pendulum on behalf of anyone but Yuuya and You Show Duel School (like Gongenzaka, Sawatari and Reiji).

“Oi, Yuzu–-you ready to get things set up for our practice duel?”

 _…And then there’s Dennis_.

Anyone who thought Yuuya was too over-the-top sometimes (and she was often among that  _anyone_ ) would shudder upon meeting her current camping and teaching partner. Even without the awkward backstory between them, she was unnerved by Dennis’ unlimited enthusiasm and consistently-shifting personality. He could go from exuberant to moody in seconds, or skip straight to  _scary_.

The problem though was that Dennis alone did the most cross-dimensional traveling and could be relied upon to show up and put on a good show for kids. Hence, why he was Yuzu’s partner in their camping trip this week, where they were going to teach sixteen rugrats the ins and outs of Fusion and Pendulum summoning.

But Dennis' presence couldn’t entirely dampen Yuzu’s enthusiasm. The kids were cute, the Fusion summons were fun, and it was the first time in three years that she’d been  ~~allowed~~  outside Maiami City.

“Yep, I’m ready now,” she finally replied. “Just coming up with some good strategies for this evening.”

“Oh good, planning ahead already! I wouldn’t have wanted to beat you as badly as Sergey did.”

…On the _other_ hand, Sora was supposed to be meeting up with them once they got to Kobe, and as far as Yuzu was concerned that backup _could not come soon enough_.

* * *

 

“Hiiragi-san, that was amazing!”

“Teach us how to Pendulum-Fusion, Hiiragi-san!”

“No, teach us to Action Duel first!”

Yuzu did her best to fend off her new legion of fans, though she feared she would be stuck beaming like this forever. “Hey hey, relax everyone! Tonight was just the demonstration. Starting tomorrow, you’ll begin your training. You’ll master Pendulum and Fusion in no time!”

One heartbeat later, Dennis was at her side saying the same. “Yuzu-chan is right–-rest now, work later. Our duel ran late so it’s past your bedtimes. Your tents are waiting!”

“Awww!”

“But  _Dennis_ –-”

“No buts!” The young Entermage playfully tickled some of the closest children with a feather he produced from his pocket; squealing, they ran to do his bidding.

Yuzu giggled; everyone looked so carefree she couldn't help feeling the same. She didn’t even tense up immediately like she normally did when she drew her partner’s attention when they were alone.

“That really was a good duel,” he said now, grinning at her; his cheeks were oddly flushed. “Guess I’ll have to be more careful in the future about underestimating Bloom Prima!”

“Sure will,” she replied, parking both hands on her hips. “And next time,  _you’ll_  be showing me more of your real Fusion deck. No more of those leftover Antique Gears, okay?”

“No problem!”

Some kids who weren’t asleep yet pulled at Dennis, begging him to show them the Xyz cards that he’d hinted at having during their duel. Yuzu’s phone rang the instant he turned away and she glanced at the caller ID.

**_Candyman_ **

_Finally!_  she thought, hitting the Answer key.

“YOOOOO YUZU–-”

Yuzu nearly tossed her phone into the woods.

“ _Sora!”_ she hissed. “We’re out in the middle of the wilderness! Yelling is  _not_  the way to stay alive after the sun goes down!”

“Sor-ry… look, I just called to let you know that we, uh, had a main water pipe burst here at Academia, so I won’t be able to teleport out there until tomorrow.”

Yuzu choked on air that seemed a lot colder all of a sudden.

_He–-can’t come?_

_He can’t come until_ tomorrow _?_

 _But I counted on him_ being here  _so I wouldn’t be alone with Dennis!_

“Yuzuuuu, are you still there?”

She took a deep breath–-Dennis wasn’t in earshot but he  _would_  come back over if she looked visibly distressed. He was sensitive to people’s pain that way.

“I–-yes, I’m still here–-connection was, um, a bit weird. Are you sure you can’t make it out before morning?”

“Pretty sure…” She heard a  _crack_ , probably a sucker getting bitten in two by her ravenous caller. “They’re kinda useless without me here. Don’t worry Yuzu, I promise I’ll be there tomorrow to give those kids  _proper_  Fusion lessons. For tonight you’ll be fine with Dennis, ne?”

 _Oh, sure. Just fine. With Dennis, the one Academian who took the longest to defect and denounce his training, besides Yuuri, his best friend_.

“…yes…”

“Great! See you tomorrow!”

“Sora, wait–-”

 _Click_.

Yuzu hissed out a word Shuzou would have scolded her for. It surely wasn’t possible for her to feel as screwed as she did right now, and she’d once been kidnapped by a man with a disturbing passion for chess.

_At least back then I got to sleep in a cell. And when Leo took me I was stuck in a tower and a lab. I never had to be right out next to people I couldn’t tru–-_

“Yuzu? …you’re crushing your phone…”

She jumped a mile. Dennis had returned, with no munchkins trailing him, and was giving her that same solicitous look he’d sported the day they met.

“Oh! I–-oh yeah, I am…”

“Was that Sora?” he asked shrewdly.

Temporarily she forgot her hesitance around him; she was so annoyed with the younger boy’s casual last-minute notice. “Ugh, yes! He’s tied up with something  _there_  so he’s not coming to help us out until tomorrow. He’s leaving us out here after–-a-after screwing up our sleep schedules! Now we’re going to have to each stay up half the night…”

He gave her an almost affronted look. “Half the night each? What kind of gentleman would I be if I allowed  _that?_ No no, I’ll stay up and wake you in the morning.”

_Whap!_

In a moment of panic, out came the trusty fan. Masking her fear with anger was the only way Yuzu could keep her voice from shaking at the thought of being that vulnerable all night.

“Yeowch!”

“ _No_  way I’m neglecting my part of p-protecting the kids. No, I’ll take watch just like you and you won’t stop me.”

Dennis hesitated, chewing on his lip. “All right, but at least let me take first watch–-”

_Whap!_

“ _Yeowch!_  Okay okay okay, I get the picture!”

“You’d sure better,” Yuzu retorted, tightening her grip on her fan. “ _I’m_ taking first watch. No arguments. Sweet dreams, Dennis.”

* * *

Here was Hiiragi Yuzu’s flawless plan:

Convince Dennis that she’d take first watch and wake him up at the crest of nightfall.

Then–-well,  _don’t_.

When he woke up with the kids the next morning, she’d apologize profusely:  _oh no, I’m so sorry, I just kept hearing things and forgot to wake you up! I couldn’t risk leaving the children unguarded!_

She’d be safe all night and be able to protect the kids. Easy-peasy.

Except the plan didn’t even make it to Step 2.

The kids were asleep by nine, right when Yuzu started first watch and Dennis winked and wished her a rather teasing goodnight. Once she was sure he was asleep she grabbed extra energy granola bars, chowing down on them as it got closer to midnight.

One A.M. was when she was “supposed” to switch with him, but she knew if she hit that hour with no surprises she’d be home fr–-

“Surprise!” Two hands and a card covered her face.

Yuzu’s vision zoomed in on the card, and she shrieked.

Instinctively she went on the attack with her fan, cringing down and lashing out with her arm at the same time. Her heart raced a thousand miles an hour and her mind with it, putting her back in Synchro’s cages and Fusion’s glass tubes–-

“Yuzu–- _Yuzu, it’s me_!”

“ _Aaaah! Don’t card me! Don’t touch me!”_

“It’s  _Dennis!_ ”

The name–-the lack of pain or isolation or capture–-the mental image of his face–- _something_  snapped Yuzu out of her blind panic and back into reality. He waited for her there, careful to keep his distance this time. When she at last emerged from instinctive fear of all things and people Academian, it was difficult to bring out words because she was so frightened and embarrassed.

But she had to try.

“What… what are you… it’s… it’s not time for your shift.”

_…Really? That’s the best you can do? ‘It’s not time for your shi–-’_

He sat down, close enough for his eyes to reflect the firelight, but still far enough away to preserve her comfort. “You know, I tried to sleep. But after everything that happened, I still only get a couple of hours in before I wake in a cold sweat, you know?”

 _Yeah…_  she thought, looking away.  _I sure do_.

“Also, I had the strangest feeling that you whacked me earlier to distract me, so I wouldn’t notice how much you didn’t like the idea of me taking watch.”

Yuzu started. Her face heated up.  _I thought I was subtle… how did he–-?_

“I didn’t-–”

Dennis shook his head. “Yuzu,” he said seriously, “One of the things I like about you is that you never sugarcoat, and you rarely lie.”

 _…Okay. He’s right about that_.

It was extremely possible for Yuzu to work with someone without trusting them, even if she liked them. She’d done it with Serena, Sora and Yuugo; Dennis was the first to ever detect her needle-threading diversions and aversions.

He was also the first one she felt bad for being wary of.

Words finally burst from her. “Your feeling’s right. I don’t trust you. How could I? The boy I thought you were was a persona, one you already used well in Xyz. After the one time we met and you saved my life, you went on to betray my friends and my world.  _How_  am I supposed to rely on you?”

He turned away, sighing. She saw him fiddle with his tie as he talked, measuring every word before expulsion. This steadiness soothed her more than his actual speech.

“You don’t have to rely on me or trust me. Not yet. Not ever, if you’re not comfortable…. All I ask is that you believe I won’t hurt you or any of the kids. I’ve hurt others enough already–-all I want now is to help them. And teach them to duel, so nothing like the war ever happens again.”

Yuzu bit her lip, but–-

\--at the same time, she believed him. She knew that she’d grown stronger as a duelist and could probably defeat him if he were tricking her, but she also sensed that that wouldn’t be necessary. Dennis hadn’t kept anything from Academia except the cards. (And the cards weren’t that good.)

 _Still_.

“You promise?” she asked directly, holding out her hand.

He took it and shook it. “Promise. On pain of that fan, no funny stuff.”

“Good,” she breathed.  _Good. I won’t need Sora soon after all_.

“Sooo–-” Dennis toed the ground now, glancing toward the tents. “If you’re not–-I mean–-are you sleeping tonight at all?”

“…wasn’t planning to, no…”

“How about we stay up together then? Duel until morning? It’ll be good practice!”

His coaxing wore Yuzu down slowly, as she searched and found no glaring flaws or hidden meaning in his plan–-just the promise of a rematch, which was always exciting.

“Okay–-sure.”

She didn’t notice that they ended up still holding hands for a long time while their decks shuffled.


End file.
